Product designer and founder of Catalyst Digital
I was born in Virginia, moved to North Carolina in 2006, and landed in South Carolina in 2012, where I have been ever since.
Long before this was a career, I was building websites for my dad's business and tinkering with my church's site, just trying to make things work right. That's where I first caught the bug for this kind of work.
I design products for a reason that is honestly kind of petty: I cannot stand fighting with a website or an app to do something simple. That feeling is what pulled me into this work, and it is still what keeps me in it.
So I spend my time hunting down the small moments where a product makes someone feel stupid, and I get rid of them. My favorite part of the job is the day I finally use the thing I built and the friction I set out to kill is just gone.
What I do best is websites and marketing material, start to finish: research and structure, the interface itself, the brand voice around it, and the build. I like owning a project from the first messy sketch to the version that ships.
Independent design studio
I started Catalyst Digital to build and rebuild the digital front of a business. I work with small shops, growing companies, and nonprofits whose websites no longer sound like them or work the way their customers expect.
The work covers research, content structure, interface design, brand voice, and the finished build. I've also made dozens of website graphics, campaign images and social posts that share the site's visual system.
For organizations such as the Charleston Association of Legal Assistants, the work also means making membership, events, and sponsorship easier for visitors to find and for volunteers to manage.
I graduated in 2025 with a 3.81 GPA and made the Dean's List every semester. I started at Trident Technical College in Charleston, then transferred to Liberty to finish the degree over my last two years.
The Google UX Design Professional Certificate is an eight-course program that runs from user empathy through wireframing, prototyping and usability testing in Figma. Along the way I studied user research, information architecture and design critique, and built a responsive website and a social-good mobile app.
It changed how I start projects. I begin with users' pain points, work from low- to high-fidelity prototypes, and back decisions with research instead of assumptions.
View credentials (opens in a new tab)
Anthropic's AI Fluency course teaches the 4D framework for working with AI: Delegation, Description, Discernment and Diligence. It made me more deliberate about what I hand off, how clearly I describe it, and how closely I check what comes back.
Now I use AI for research synthesis and content drafting. I still make the calls, with users in mind, and I'm accountable for the final result.
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I build and ship production web apps on Lovable, including this portfolio. Lovable ranks me in the top 10% of its users by activity: building, revising and publishing live projects.
January 2026 to now
Founder
I run the studio, which means I do the talking, the research, the design, and the build. Business owners come to me when their online presence has fallen behind the company it represents, and I rebuild it around how their customers behave.
June to August 2025
Visual & UX Design Intern
I reported directly to Holly Ellison, the firm's Chief Marketing Executive, and worked within Derrick Law Firm's existing brand guidelines rather than setting my own direction. I collaborated with the firm's other marketers on digital assets and led a redesign concept for the company website, working through the site structure, page layouts, and interface direction in Figma. The redesign was never shipped due to budget constraints, but it gave the firm a clear picture of where their site was losing people.
May to July 2025
Graphic Design Practicum
Crown & Clay is a startup, so I worked directly with the founder, Alicia Laumann, on social media and branding assets, both digital and physical. I took pieces from the first sketch through design and into print, which taught me a lot about designing for something you can hold.
“Working with Silas was a fantastic experience! He took my vision and turned it into a polished, professional website that perfectly represents my brand. He handled every request with precision and delivered everything on a quick timeline. I highly recommend his services!”
Corbin Serrano C.E.S Imagery
“Working with him on updating our website has been an outstanding experience, thanks to Silas. He was remarkably patient, knowledgeable, and always willing to assist ... His creative vision and clear instructions made the process easy. I highly recommend Silas!”
Lene Rex CALA
“Silas has done a great job learning and applying the style desired by Derrick Law Firm to the assets he has created so far. He is easy to work with and offers many applicable suggestions to our marketing strategies.”
Holly Ellison Derrick Law Firm
“Silas has brought great creative and technical skill to bear on numerous projects for me, including building two websites, designing logos, and developing book covers. He is very detail oriented, meets deadlines, and communicates very effectively. I could not ask for a better partner for my projects.”
Wes Moore Prophet Scholar
“Punctual, listens well. Asks good questions and has a desire to achieve the best possible result for the client. He is willing to take direction and experiment based on direct feedback. He shows a willingness to learn and grow as a designer.”
Scott Laumann Wagen Creative
Testimonial 1 of 5
Each one answers a different question, and none of them get skipped when a deadline gets tight.
Listen before making
Empathize first. What is the person trying to get done, and where does the current thing get in their way? I would rather hear someone complain for twenty minutes than guess for two weeks.
Find the pattern
Research what already exists, competitors included, and find the patterns people have been trained to expect. Breaking a convention is fine, but only on purpose.
Structure first
Design structure before screens, with a system of type, color and components so the tenth screen takes an hour instead of a day and everything still feels like one product.
Watch where people stall
Test it with people and watch where they hesitate. I fix what made them pause, then run it again.
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Claude (favorite tool)My second brain
IllustratorVectors without limits
PhotoshopPixel-level polish
MobbinUI inspiration
GeminiBrainstorm buddy
ChatGPTFact-checks my AI tools
MidjourneyHigh-fidelity, fastI don't design from a guess.
Structure comes before pixels.
The system has to hold up everywhere it shows up.
Handoff isn't the finish line.
I like understanding the whole problem, including the parts outside my role.
AI gets me to a first draft faster. The thinking still has to be mine.
I am a nerd and I have made peace with it. Games, baseball, K-pop, the gym, and homemade pizza fill the hours beyond design.
It took years off my life with how emotional it is. Verso, Maelle, and Gustave are some of the best characters in fiction.
My favorites are Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. I have learned to hold my breath in October.
Simple pepperoni is my favorite to make. I use my own pizza steel at home and make all of my dough from scratch. Good pizza does not need dipping sauce.
A fan since 2019, and I have bought every album they have released. Seeing them in concert is a bucket-list item.
A fan since 2019, every album collected, and I finally saw them in concert in 2026.
Six days a week on a push, pull, legs split, plus 10,000 daily steps. Shoulder press is the favorite.
Stopped by? Switch it on before you go.
What I design to
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30-second previews courtesy of Apple Music.
Open the full playlist on Spotify (opens in a new tab)